ING Direct, the international telebanking arm of the Dutch financial services group, has signed up its five millionth customer, effectively doubling its customer base over the past year.
The 5 millionth customer opened a 'conto arancio' (orange account) at ING Direct in Italy. ING Direct Italy began its operations in April 2001 and currently has 260,000 customers.
The firm, which supports its direct channel strategy with ING Direct Cafes at major cities, was launched in Canada in May 1997 and is now also active in Spain, Australia, France, the United States, Italy and Germany (through recent acquisition diba).